Federal lawmakers this week introduced legislation that would require food manufacturers that sell packaged infant and toddler foods to routinely test their finished products for toxic heavy metals and bacterial contamination.
The Improving Newborns’ Food and Nutrition Testing Safety (INFANTS) Act of 2023 would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by requiring manufacturers of packaged infant and toddler foods to conduct quarterly testing of their products for lead, cadmium, and mercury.
The proposed legislation comes amid an ongoing U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigation that found at least 64 cases of potential lead poisoning in children under age 6 who ate cinnamon applesauce pouches sold by WanaBana, Schnucks and Weis.
In October, California passed a law requiring testing for heavy metals in baby food. But there is no such federal mandate — despite evidence that exposure to heavy metals in infancy and childhood can cause lifelong harm.
The proposed federal bill — introduced on Dec. 18 by Reps. Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) and Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.) — requires food manufacturers to maintain a record of all sampling results and share those records with the FDA.
It also requires infant formula manufacturers to routinely monitor and sample their products for Cronobacter, a harmful bacteria. Last year at least two babies died and three became ill after consuming formula tainted with Cronobacter.
Sykes said in a press release that the bill required “commonsense nutrition testing” for infant and toddler foods:
“Parents have enough on their plates — they shouldn’t have to worry if the food they are feeding their infants and toddlers contains dangerous amounts of toxic heavy metals like lead or arsenic. …
“The INFANTS Act will provide parents with much-needed peace of mind and ensure infants and toddlers have the safe, nutritious food they need to grow and develop.”
A spokesperson from Sykes’s office told The Defender the bill is meant to be complementary legislation for the Baby Food Safety Act which “would establish maximum levels of certain toxic elements allowed in infant and toddler food.”
The spokesperson pointed out that the Baby Food Safety Act’s authors — Reps. Cárdenas and Krishnamoorthi — are also co-sponsors of the INFANTS Act.
The Baby Food Safety Act was introduced on March 26, 2021, and referred to the U.S. House of Representatives’ health subcommittee on March 29, 2021. It is unclear if and when it may go to the floor for a vote.
Attorney Pedram Esfandiary was skeptical that Congress would swiftly act to set limits for heavy metals in baby and toddler foods. He told The Defender:
“We have been here before. When the original Baby Food Safety Act was promulgated back in 2021, it went nowhere, despite making loud promises to parents that finally baby food makers would be held to a standard that was safer for their children.
“As much as we’d like to believe that this time, changes will be enacted, it shouldn’t have taken more than 200 kids to suffer lead poisoning before someone noticed that the Baby Food Safety Act was gathering dust in a forgotten subcommittee.”
Esfandiary is the lead attorney at Wisner Baum working on the law firm’s toxic baby food litigation. Thousands of families have retained Wisner Baum, claiming their children developed autism spectrum disorder and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) after being exposed to dangerously high levels of heavy metals in baby food products.
The firm’s litigation on their behalf alleges seven baby food companies knowingly sold — and continue to sell — products tainted with heavy metals that can cause brain damage that manifests as diagnoses of autism and ADHD.
The companies charged in the litigation are Beech-Nut, Gerber, Hain Celestial Group — Earth’s Best Organic, Nurture — Happy Family Organics and Happy BABY, Plum Organics, Sprout Foods — Sprout Organic Food, and Walmart — Parent’s Choice…
Children's Health Defense 
